Tory vice chair changes his tune on 'getting behind' Theresa May

Ben Bradley has resigned. He is best know for suggesting that benefit claimants should have vasectomies.

Theresa May was close to making it 24 hours without another Brexit resignation before two Tory vice-chairs walked out on Tuesday evening.

Ben Bradley and Maria Caulfield stormed out of the top team in a coordinated attack on the Chequers deal agreed on Friday.

But rival Tory sources suggested the she might just survive the loss of a vocal pro-life campaigner who has led efforts to prevent changes to strict abortion laws and man who once suggested that benefit claimants should have vasectomies rather than have more children they could not afford.

Earlier this year, Bradley was also forced to make a grovelling apology and make a substantial donation to charity for making false claims about Jeremy Corbyn’s links with communist spies.

So perhaps it should not have come as shock to anyone that his resignation raised a few questions.

In his resignation letter, the Mansfield MP tried to explain his shifting stance on Brexit: “I admit that I voted to Remain in that ballot. What has swayed me over the last two years to fully back the Brexit vision is the immense opportunities that are available from global trade, and for the ability for Britain to be an outward looking nation in control of our own destiny once again.”

He also did his best to gloss over a tweet he sent last week calling on everyone to "get behind" Theresa May…

Whilst everyone gets very excited about Chequers tomorrow, truth is PM has been consistent with her #Brexit wishlist from day one - control of money, borders and laws. We should support her, get behind her and deliver precisely those things!

Meanwhile The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers which campaigns against beardism, irrational prejudice against the hirsute, has said that it will now hold a further review of Bradley’s Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award.

The last review was prompted by Bradley's comments about Corbyn. This time BLF organiser Keith Flett said: "No decision has been taken but we want to carefully review if Mr Bradley’s public actions are in keeping with the Parliamentary Beard of the Year title."